Success: A spiritual perspective

Famous author and seeker, and spiritual healer Deepak Chopra defines Success in life as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.

The keyword in the above definition is “Worthy Goals”. The definition of worthy in these goals is the reason for all the happiness or misery that all of us face in our quest of being successful.

The definition of success can be identified at two levels, one at the internal level at spiritual level and other at the external level which is mostly associated with our material aspiration, wants, expectation and everything which a person wishes not because he wants or needs it, he wishes those things because he wants to be seen, known an identified as someone from his imaginary self, which is modelled against something accepted, approved, admired or even feared by the society. The success in achieving internal or spiritual goal makes one satisfied, calm, and at peace with himself and his environment, whereas success achieved in terms of external wants needs and longings leads into even bigger desire and want, which cannot be satiated.  

Dr. Chopra says, success is a journey, not a destination. The definition or meaning of this success keeps changing as we move ahead in our journey of life; it changes in both the choices of success that one makes. But, in internal success choice, the person builds on the earlier successes and evolves and becomes calmer, more contented and happy in real sense, whereas, in the case of other choice of success, the external one, the person, becomes unhappy, more dissatisfied, frustrated, and desperate. He realizes that more he achieves such material things, more they seem to look futile and worthwhile is yet to be achieved, the maddening spiral of desire which defines success in such case ultimately sucks the person to oblivion. This probably explains why otherwise successful people, who have achieved almost everything material which money can buy, and everything else which comes with the success, suddenly get so desperate and depressed that they resort to extreme measures and commit suicide, resort to drugs or other abuses.

The word spirituality is not a guarantee to salvation; most of us are like parrot in the cage that was trained in giving sermons on freedom, and every day he used to give the sermons to an audience which was taught by his master. One day when the audience assembled to listen to the discourse of the parrot, he did not move, did not utter a word, his master, who goes and opens the cage to discover that the parrot was dead. The parrot, who gave sermons on freedom all through its life, lived all his life in a cage and ultimately died there. Few days ago, one such parrot killed himself with his gun in Madhya Pradesh, he was allegedly a saint, giving sermons to people, was perhaps guiding them to come out of their stress and depression, helping them mend their relationships with their spouses and friends could not apparently handle his own relationships, depression and frustration. It’s sad and unfortunate, I am in no way mocking the unfortunate death, this is just an example to stress my point mentioned earlier.

The person who has his satisfaction set right understands that material abundance, in all its expressions, happens to make the journey more enjoyable, but success includes good health, energy and enthusiasm for life, fulfilling relationships, creative freedom, and a sense of well-being.

Success is the ability to fulfil our desires with effortless ease. And yet success, including the creation of wealth, has always been a process that requires hard work, and is often considered to be at the expense of others. We need a more spiritual approach to success and to affluence, which is the abundant flow of all good things to us.

In spiritual terms, success is measured by how efficiently, how effortlessly, we co-create with the universe. Hard work, struggle, and frustration are the opposite of what the ancient sages taught, they knew that spirit lies at the source of all achievement in life. They always began at the source, and they defined the source as pure potentiality, which is purely unmanifest consciousness. The beauty of beginning at the source is that power resides there – the power of our inner being, the power of our spirit. The thought and concept of surrender to achieve success and satisfaction – an attitude of staying dissociated with the material things, a trustee mentality towards everything. “Twadiyam Vastu Govinda tubhaymev Samarpye”

In every seed lies the promise of a forest. Osho said, don’t estimate the nondescript ugly looking seed of Banyan Tree, by its looks, size and beauty, it has got a universe hidden in itself, only it needs the right ground and environment to germinate bloom grow and turn into a mammoth monument of nature.    Unseen energy flows into material manifestation. The physical laws of the universe are the process by which the unmanifest, unknown, and invisible is transformed into the manifest, known and visible. Our most cherished desires are pure consciousness seeking expression from the unmanifest to the manifest. And if we give our deeper instincts a chance, success in life is not only possible, but inevitable.

The law of pure potentiality (as defined by Dr. Deepak Chopra in his book on Spiritual Laws of Success) says that our essential state is one of pure potentiality. Pure potentiality is pure consciousness; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity. Our physical body, the physical universe-everything in the material world – comes from the same place:  a field of silent, unmoving awareness from which anything is possible. There is no separation between this field of energy and our spiritual essence, our Self. This field is our own Self. And when we know that our essential nature is one of pure potentiality, we align with the power that manifests everything in the universe.

Knowing who we really are gives us the ability to fulfil any dream we have, because the same field that nature uses to create a forest, a galaxy, or a human body can also bring about fulfilment of our desires. Anything is possible in the field of pure potentiality, because this field is the source of all power, all intelligence, and infinite organizing ability.

Therefore, success in life depends on knowing who we really are. When our internal reference point is our spirit, our true Self, we experience all the power of our spirit.

When our internal reference point is the ego or self-image, we feel cut off from our source, and the uncertainty of events creates fear and doubt. The ego is influenced by objects outside the Self – circumstances, people, and thing. It thrives on the approval of others. It wants to control, because it lives in fear. But the ego is not who we really are. The ego is our social mask; it is the role we are playing.

The need for approval, the need to control things, and the need for external power are fear based. Fear is a double edged sword, it cuts both ways. The nature of bruise in the person wielding this sword and the nature of bruise in the person who is inflicted damage by this sword might vary in terms of their appearance, in the later it is physical and temporary, but in the former it is internal and permanent. This kind of power is not the power of pure potentiality, the power of the Self, or true power. Self-power is true power because it is based on the laws of nature and comes from knowledge of the Self. Self-power draws things that we want to us, it magnetizes people, situations, and things to support our desires. This support from the laws of nature is the state of grace. When we are in harmony with nature, we create a bond between our own desires and the power to make desires materialize.